Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Comedian Aubrey Plaza has broken her silence about her “daily struggle” to come to terms with her husband Jeff Baena‘s tragic suicide—eight months after he was found dead inside their Los Angeles home.
“Honey Don’t!” star Plaza, 41, spoke to fellow comedian Amy Poehler about her ongoing battle with grief over the loss of her husband, whom she had been in a relationship with for 14 years when he passed away, describing her devastation as “a giant ocean of awfulness.”
The actress’ appearance on Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast marks the first time that she has spoken out about Baena’s death since she issued a statement expressing her heartbreak over his loss, while describing his passing as an “unimaginable tragedy.”
Baena was pronounced dead on Jan. 3, at age 47 inside the $4.7 million Los Feliz property he shared with Plaza, with the Los Angeles County Coroner later confirming the cause of death as suicide.
“You’ve had this terrible, terrible, tragic year. You lost your husband, you’ve been dealing with that, and you’ve been looking for all different ways in which to feel and find support,” Poehler said, noting that many people “want to see you and want to see how you are, they love you.”
(Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you,” Plaza told her, before admitting: “Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m OK, but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously.”
Attempting to explain her grieving process, Plaza then referenced the 2025 movie, “The Gorge,” starring Miles Teller and Anya-Taylor Joy, which features a remote crevasse filled with monsters—with guard posts stationed on either side to protect their respective territories from the horrors within.
Plaza admitted that while it might seem like a strange analogy, the setup of the sci-fi thriller felt much like her grief.
“This is a really dumb analogy and it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but I actually mean it. Did you see that movie ‘The Gorge’?” Plaza asked. “It’s like [an] alien movie or something with Miles Teller.
“In the movie, there’s like a cliff on one side and there’s a cliff on the other side, then there’s gorge in between and it’s filled with all these like monster people that are trying to get them. I swear when I watched it, I was like that feels like what my grief is like … or what grief could be like.”
The on-screen starlet explained that, no matter how she is feeling in a specific moment, her grief is always lingering—regardless of whether she wants to fully lean in to it, or escape it altogether.
“At all times, there’s like a giant ocean of awfulness, that’s like right there and I can see it,” she said. “Sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just like be in it. Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But it’s always there.”
(Good Hang with Amy Poehler)
(Realtor.com)
Plaza, whose new movie, “Honey Don’t!” is due for release on Aug. 22, has largely avoided speaking out about Baena’s death—deleting her social media accounts shortly after her husband’s passing.
The former “Parks and Recreation” star first started dating Baena in 2011 and revealed in May 2021 that they had secretly wed after referring to him as her “darling husband” in an Instagram post.
According to reports, Plaza and Baena—a writer and director—had purchased a home together in October 2022, paying $4.7 million for the Los Feliz property.
Records show that the property was purchased via a trust managed by an accounting firm located in the same office as Plaza’s production company, Evil Hag Productions.
The Mediterranean-style dwelling, which features four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, was built in 1928 and appears to have been purchased off market, according to Realtor.com® data.
Before it was purchased in 2022, the home last changed hands in 2017 for $3.6 million.
In a previous listing, the property was described as having “beautifully curated and restored interiors, generous scale, and multiple outdoor spaces ready for quiet reflection or entertaining.”
The home boasts a swimming pool, a large chef’s kitchen, an outdoor dining area, and a large patio overlooking the “secluded” gardens. Hidden behind a large wall, the property offers complete privacy from the outside world.